Music breaking barriers

Mini-Reviews XVII

From Argentina comes to us this oddly-titled band and their self-titled EP, Kjjjjjjjjj. Somewhere between new melodic prog and post-math rock, this twenty-seven-minute, eight-song album shows us of what the trio is capable. The bass guitar wonderfully complements the aerial guitar parts, with the drummer being consistently interesting in its beats, accentuations, and use of cymbals. A really neat little find that you’ll want to listen over and over.Pfloog blew us away with their chill and legitimate math rock EP, Flop City. This time, they come back with the Empathy EP, featuring two songs and a short introduction track. While still in the realm of math rock, we’re on the total opposite end of the spectrum. If Flop City reminded more of CHON, Empathy is more like TTNG: it’s much more laid back and features soft, emotional vocals. This change of heart robbed us of the Pfloog we liked, and gave us a new face of Pfloog that we also like. Polish post-metal outfit Obscure Sphinx just released their third album, Epitaphs. The album, which is over sixty minutes in length, is split into two distinct parts, Pre-Mortem and Post-Mortem. It’s very atmospheric and succeeds, at times, in captivating the mind, but, for most of the journey, the generic djenty riffs fail to bring or create something worthy of attention. It’s been almost five years since Italians Morkobot released anything, and it shows. Gorgo is the band’s fifth full-length album, and they finally afforded some high quality production! Indeed, the step is quite high between this and their latest release, Morbo. Of particular note is the drums, which are, first really good, and sound organic and alive! Let yourself go down into thirty-eight minutes of doomish instrumental math metal.Origami Geijutsu – artistically capitalized ORigami geijutsU -, is a quite recent instrumental mathcore band from France. The trio’s first album, The Hibakusha Haikus, came out in April of this year, with thirty-three minutes of material. The compositions are great, intense, and fast-paced; just what you’d ask from a mathcore band. Moreover, the last track features guest vocals that aren’t too far from Meek Is Murder’s. Overall, a thrilling experience! Australian improvisational avant-garde jazz metal band Kurushimi – or 苦しみ -, just released Shōtotsu – 衝突 -, their latest experiment. With such a name as “crash, collision”, you would rightfully expect the eighteen minutes of this EP to be filled with violence and aggression. The two roughly fifteen-second songs, “Rats Gnaw Your Face” and “からすのこうげき” (Attack of the Raven), are not unlike short grindcore songs – but add to that the experimental instrumentation of the band -, while the two longer tracks serve as highly-interesting avant-garde jazz metal buildups. Recommended!Gravitysays_i is a progressive post-rock band from Greece, and Quantum Unknown is their third album. I have to say I disliked the album, and this is due to the bland chord and song progressions, the indifferent solos, and the singer’s voice, which I truly cannot bear. One interesting thing the band brings forward is the use of santūr, an Iranian traditional instrument. But having one uncommon instrument doesn’t make lifeless compositions sound less dead… Boston avant-garde metal band Ehnahre released their latest album, Douve, back in January, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from releasing an EP in September. Nothing and Nothingness is a two-track, twenty-two minute dive into the depths of experimental doom and black metal. The album is as dark and gloomy as it gets, with some classical orchestration to emphasize – namely contrabass and clarinet. It’s a really slow burner, and it should be the tape that plays outside your home on Halloween night. Completely recommended!